


Erwin Has A Good (Birth)day

by heartstarmagick



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Birthday Cake, Birthday Fluff, Erwin plays the cello, Feel-good, Fluff, Gender-Neutral Hange Zoë
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-15
Updated: 2015-10-15
Packaged: 2018-04-26 11:06:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5002384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartstarmagick/pseuds/heartstarmagick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Like "Armin Has A Good Day" it's just good shit happening to Erwin. Happy birthday, stud. Part of Erwin Week (Day 3--Birthday) </p><p>"Gradually he begins playing faster as the music came back to him and he feels the music deep down where he supposed his soul might be.</p><p>There is nothing in this godforsaken world like that sound."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Erwin Has A Good (Birth)day

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Armin Has A Good Day](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2561768) by [heartstarmagick](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartstarmagick/pseuds/heartstarmagick). 



> I just really love Erwin Smith, I might write a sequel to this.

He wakes up first thing without any help from his alarm clock. Erwin sighs and stretches, finding his back without any pains for once and the light pouring in the windows more lovely and endearing than achingly bright.

Really, the room looks lovely. He never gets any time to really appreciate the aesthetics of things but today is a special day. Erwin doesn't have any meetings to attend. Erwin doesn't have any paperwork left to do. Erwin doesn't have any trainees he needs to tend to.

It is Erwin's birthday.

He furrows his brow as he tries to remember how old he is. That's something for later.

The tall blond gets out of bed and makes himself a pot of coffee, scratching his head and finding a box on his table that hadn't been there when he went to sleep. There is a card sitting on top of it. Erwin recognizes Levi's lefty scrawl.

_Eyebrows,_

_Hanji said to leave a card with this. It's from us obviously but i'm not signing their name. Happy birthday or something._

_Levi_

_(ok AND hanji since they made the cake)_  

It draws a smile complete with a few relatively new crinkles by his eyes from the Commander. He wears the lines well, not that he paid much mind to them. Aesthetics were always the least of his worries. Erwin opens the box and finds an home-made cake with his favorite frosting--a secret recipe that Hanji refused to divulge. He didn't get frosting often, nor cake for that matter, so he couldn't help but feel his heart swell with warmth.

It was a small cake, perfectly frosted with 'Happy Birthday Erwin!' impeccably written. Erwin can tell it was Levi's work, his iced handwriting much neater than his pen. He smiles and picks up a stray drip of the delicious sugary treat and licks it off his finger, making a soft noise at Hanji's handiwork.

He can tell it's going to be a good day.

Erwin goes back into the bedroom as the coffee brews. He heads right for the dresser, picking out a pair of comfortable black pants and his softest blue shirt finding that his favorite underwear is also clean. He sighs happily and pulls the outfit on, going back to the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee.

The coffee turns out perfectly. It's hard for him, sometimes, to get it as bitter as he likes but he's nailed it this time and it makes him smile once more as he takes it into his small living room and slinks into his favorite chair.

Normally, he's looking over paperwork or the list of things to do for the day, but today is different. Today he has time for _himself_. He picks up a book that he hasn't looked at in ages and opens the large cover, sipping his coffee before setting the cup down next to him.

The book is a book of paintings. He vaguely remembers receiving it from his father, the happiness blooming becoming a little bittersweet.

He's always tried not to hold onto too much. Erwin never believed in physical baggage, especially not with so much going on. This book, though, this is one of the things he's allowed himself over the years. The book is filled with pictures of ornate landscapes--oceans and fields and forests and deserts even--things he never thought possible.

Erwin has seen forest. He has seen fields. He doesn't see how anything else is possible but...the book was right about those, surely such things really do exist.

His favorite pictures are the ones of the ocean. He can't help but get excited and intrigued at the prospect of such a thing. Often he's had fantasies of what it's like to be so thoroughly surrounded by water and the life in it, what it must sound like or even look like laid out all around him.

The book always makes him feel small. That's not something that happens too often.

Leisurely, he sips his coffee and lets the ocean preoccupy him for the time being.

Once he's done, he sets his cup in the sink and makes his way to his office, sitting at the large chair behind his desk and leaving the door open. Sunlight pours through the windows. It's a beautiful day, not too hot and not too cold and the sunshine invigorates him. Erwin opens the windows and sighs happily, looking around and finding his cello propped up in the corner.

 _There_  was something he never had time for.

He hums and goes over to the large instrument, opening the hard case and pulling it out. It was well-loved, not pristine but certainly not wrecked. He fishes out the bow and brings the instrument to his desk.

Erwin rosins the bow and smiles again, getting into position and carefully drawing the bow across the strings. Muscle memory puts his fingers in the right place and he sighs, letting the gentle tune carry away any remaining stress. Gradually he begins playing faster as the music came back to him and he feels the music deep down where he supposed his soul might be.

There is nothing in this godforsaken world like that sound.

He hears people stop and listen for a few moments, though Erwin pays them no mind. He's in his own world, as musicians were known to be, free for the moment of any business or anything else. Erwin isn't one to take moments like this often or really at all, but in light of the last gut-wrenching expedition not so long ago, he's allowed it just this once.

He's only interrupted when there's a knock on the door. Erwin looks and sees Levi, carrying something.

Erwin sets his bow down. "Didn't know you could actually play that," Levi says, setting down the neatly folded pile. "I washed your sheets. I didn't know what to get you."

"You made me cake! I don't need anything more!"

Levi snorts, "I just frosted it."

"Is that not the best part?" Levi says nothing, turning to leave. Erwin clears his throat and Levi looks back with a raised brow. The blond smiles and begins setting the cello away, "Didn't you want tea?"

"I wasn't going to make you put on a pot for me on your fucking birthday."

Erwin shrugs, setting aside the instrument, "I'm certainly not going out of my way."

Levi comes back into the room, sitting at his usual place on the sofa as Erwin makes tea. He puts the sheets in his room, retrieving the cake and a couple of plates and silverware, cutting Levi a piece before he can refuse. 


End file.
